Vladimir Tarasenko signed a two-year, $9.5 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. It has an average annual value of $4.75 million.
The 32-year-old-forward had 55 points (23 goals, 32 assists) in 76 regular-season games for the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators last season including 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 19 games after he was acquired by the Panthers in a trade with the Senators on March 6.
Tarasenko had nine points (five goals, four assists) in 24 Stanley Cup Playoff games to help the Panthers win the Cup.
“He’s a left-shot winger with a bigger body, a little different type of player than our wingers: Lucas (Raymond), Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat,” Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said Thursday. “He’s a bigger body (6-foot-1, 219 pounds) to fill out that top-six or top-nine group with a straight-ahead guy who is big and strong and will go to the net.”
Selected by the St. Louis Blues in the first round (No. 16) of the 2010 NHL Draft, Tarasenko has 629 points (293 goals, 336 assists) in 751 regular-season games for the Panthers, Senators, New York Rangers and Blues and 73 points (49 goals, 24 assists) in 121 playoff games.
Tarasenko also won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019.
The Red Wings on Monday traded forward Robby Fabbri and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to the Anaheim Ducks for goalie prospect Gage Alexander.
Fabbri had 32 points (18 goals, 14 assists) in 68 games for the Red Wings last season and has 200 points (98 goals, 102 assists) in 598 regular-season games for the Red Wings and St. Louis Blues. He is entering the final season of a three-year $12 million contract ($4 million average annual value) and can become an unrestricted free agent after the upcoming season.
Alexander, a fifth-round pick (148) in the 2021 NHL Draft has yet to play in the NHL. He was 5-8-1 with a 3.76 goals-against average, .887 save percentage and one shutout in 19 game with Tulsa of the ECHL last season.
Detroit also signed goalies Cam Talbot (two years) and Jack Campbell (one year), forward Tyler Motte (one year), and defenseman Erik Gustafsson (two years) since free agency began on Monday, and re-signed forward Christian Fischer (one year). They also re-signed Kane to a one-year contract on June 30.
The Red Wings (41-32-9) finished tied in points with the Washington Capitals for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference last season. However, they lost the tiebreaker via regulation wins (32-27), resulting in them missing the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season, which is the longest streak in their history.
“We would love to make the playoffs; we would have loved to make the playoffs last year,” Yzerman said. “But ultimately, I’m still trying to put together that core of young guys that is going to be together and start to creep into the playoffs and hang around the playoffs and maybe eventually win.”
NHL.com independent correspondent Dave Hogg contributed to this report
